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You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here

A Psychiatrist’s Life

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.


**THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER**
Most of the psychiatric cases in this book are Benji’s patients. Some of them are his family. One of them is him.

Unlocking the doors to the psych ward, NHS psychiatrist Dr Benji Waterhouse provides a fly-on-the-padded-wall account of medicine’s most mysterious and controversial speciality.

Why would anyone in their right mind choose to be a psychiatrist? Are the solutions to people’s messy lives really within medical school textbooks? And how can vulnerable patients receive the care they need when psychiatry lacks staff, hospital beds and any actual cures?

This is an eye-opening medical memoir – from both sides of the doctor’s desk. The perfect read for fans of This Is Going to Hurt, Unnatural Causes and The Prison Doctor.


A humane, hilarious and heart-breaking window into the world of psychiatry from ‘the Adam Kay of mental healthcare’ (THE TIMES)

‘This is honestly my dream book… Fascinating’ FERN BRADY
‘Fearlessly honest, funny and uplifting’ JO BRAND

‘Very funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent’ HENRY MARSH

©2024 Benji Waterhouse (P) 2024 Penguin Audio

 Medical Professionals & Academics Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Funny Witty Feel-Good Heartfelt Inspiring Thought-Provoking Mental Health Health Medicine

Critic reviews

Darkly amusing and touching... It gives you an alarming insight into the chaotic lives of both patients and medical staff. (Jacqueline Wilson)
Hilarious, shocking and urgent… a deeply compassionate book, which paints a picture of professional dedication in the face of almost unbelievable dysfunction
It has a freshness and verve that sets it apart... What is unwavering and beautifully described is the inspiration Waterhouse continues to find in his patients. He has that essential trait of all good doctors: a sincere and lasting tenderness for his flawed and frail, crude and complicated, broken and brilliant fellow human beings… Ultimately, this is a campaigning work, both brilliantly funny and deadly serious…. His book is humane, hilarious, eye-opening – and deserves to be widely read (Rachel Clarke)
The face of modern psychiatry (Dr Gwen Adshead, author of The Devil You Know)
Humorous and humane … [Waterhouse] finds the funny without turning patients into punchlines... It’s a warm-hearted reminder that the [NHS] system is still staffed by many people doing their darnedest to connect with and care for people
Funny, humane and insightful
A darkly comic personal trawl through the world of psychiatry and the idiosyncratic characters struggling on both sides of the divide. Honest, funny, saddening and uplifting all rolled into one (Jo Brand, comedian and former psychiatric nurse)
Very funny and deeply sympathetic. Really excellent (Henry Marsh, author of Do No Harm)
Things certainly don’t always work out for Dr Benji Waterhouse in his darkly amusing and touching memoir You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here, about his experiences as an NHS doctor specialising in psychiatry. It gives you an alarming insight into the chaotic lives of both patients and medical staff (Jacqueline Wilson)
A heartbreaking and also funny look at psychiatry. I loved this engrossing book which taught me lots of new things and broadened my mind (Cathy Rentzenbrink)
All stars
Most relevant
Excellent listen, couldn’t turn it off. Engaging from start to finish 10/10. Relatable in so many ways, certainly an interesting profession.

Excellent listen

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The way Benji told his story really brought me along for the ride. I could feel Benji's frustration about feeling like he can't help, the bottled up emotions from his past, the struggle to open up. I also appreciated the way in which mental health was spoken about and the way other people's stories and struggles were told.

I do hope that more people in power would read a book like this one. Bringing some much needed awareness of the struggles of the people using and/or working in the NHS.

A wonderful account of Benji's time as a psychiatrist.

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I like this book because it was so easy to listen to and his honesty. I was sad when it ended

amazing author

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What a funny, endearing and educational listen. I laughed out loud so many times.
I work in mental health so I related to it all the more and so much of it resonated with me.
Just wonderful. Loved every second.

Superb.

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Enjoyed this comical take looking at interesting psychiatric encounters during authors training as well as his family relationships. Funny & heartwarming.

Amusing take on psychiatrists training & personal reflections.

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